I am part of A.A., one among many, but I am one. I need the A.A. principles for the development of the buried life within me. A.A. may be human in its organization, but it is Divine in its purpose. The purpose is to point me toward God and a better life. Participating in the privilege of the movement, I shall share in the responsibilities, taking it upon myself to carry my fair share of the load, not grudgingly but joyfully. To the extent that I fail in my responsibilities, A.A. fails. To the extent that I succeed, A.A. succeeds.

Do I accept this as my AA. credo?

Meditation for the Day

“Praise the Lord.” What does praising God mean? It means being grateful for all the wonderful things in the universe and for all the blessings in your life. So praise God by being grateful and humble. Praise of this kind has more power to vanquish evil than has mere resignation. The truly grateful and humble person, who is always praising God, is not tempted to do wrong. You will have a feeling of security because you know that fundamentally all is

well. So look up to God and praise Him.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be grateful for all my blessings. I pray that I may be

humble because I know that I do not deserve them.

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Teaching practice, practice and teach.

That is all we have, that is all we are good for,

that is all we ever had to do.

Ernest Holmes

Step Nine emphatically cautions us against misusing the truth when it states:

“We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” Because it points up the fact that the truth can be used to injure as well as to heal, this valuable principle certainly has

wide-ranging application to the problem of developing integrity.

— Grapevine, January 1962

Feel the sweetness in your own heart.

Then you may find the sweetness in every heart.

~ Rumi

ACIM Workbook Lesson 148 Insights

Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and

“If I defend myself I am attacked. Sickness is a defense against the truth.”

My right mind, my Real mind, holds only what I think with God. The split mind, the ego mind, from which I see images of separate bodies and separate things, is not my real mind, even though I might identify with it. It is a false mind, a mind that makes up images of nothing, even though I might experience it as very real.

In this false mind I feel I must defend myself against attack by something outside me. This false mind gives me images of attack and being attacked. For example, the pollen from the trees makes my eyes itch. There is constant change and deterioration by the weather. Everything is threatened by outer influences, which eventually destroy it. In this world, if we do not defend against germs, they would destroy us, we would become sick and die.

All this comes from the false ego mind. All this comes from a thought system that is denying the truth of our invulnerability as part of the Mind of God. All this denies the truth of our Identity. We experience this false world because we wanted specialness, we wanted individuality, we wanted to experience separation from our Source.

Thank goodness none of this could ever be true. The images and experiences that come from the false ego mind could never be true. We imagine that we become sick and die. But when we wake up, we see none of it was ever real. It was all just hallucinations of vulnerability, lack and death. In this ego mind, we try to atone for our “sins” by punishing our bodies and perceiving ourselves as weak and vulnerable to forces we cannot control. All this is simply not true. All this just comes from the false ego mind which we have identified with.

Thank God we still have our real Mind. We cannot leave the Mind of God even though we imagine ourselves doing so. Our right Mind holds only what we think with God.

By doing these lessons every day, every hour, we are gradually loosening our grip on the false ideas that give us the experience of this world of separation and vulnerability. As we stick with this mind healing program found in A Course in Miracles, we let go of the false ideas. Behind those false ideas is the one Mind, the Mind of God. This is our real Mind and the only Mind. This is our true Identity forever.

Each day I continue the undoing process of letting go of what was never real. Repeating throughout the day, “My mind holds only what I think with God,” brings me back to the truth and allows an opening by which the Holy Spirit can bridge me back to the truth, to where I never left. This daily practice is an important lifeline. There is nothing more important than returning to the truth.

The lessons reviewed in today’s lesson focus on the belief in vulnerability that interferes with my awareness of the thoughts I share with God. I could not perceive myself as needing defense unless I believed I was vulnerable. To believe I am vulnerable, I must believe I am separate from God or believe God is vulnerable, neither of which are true. Remembering my mind holds only what I think with God is the cure for belief in vulnerability.

My safety does not come from building defenses against outside forces, people, disease, weather, earth changes, all the myriad forms this world of false images presents. My safety comes from remembering I remain in the Mind of God as I was created, sharing His Love, His joy, His peace, His strength and His holiness. That is the truth about my true Self. It cannot be changed because God does not change. What is eternal is changeless, and the truth about me, about everyone, is that we are eternal. We are the one Self that is God’s extension.

Any time I perceive I have been hurt, either emotionally or physically, I am believing in a false image of myself. It is this I must take to the Holy Spirit and ask for His gentle correction. Repeating hourly for ten days that my mind holds only what I think with God builds a reference point in my mind which I can use to help me recognize the false thinking that leads to feeling vulnerable and weak. With this recognition, my job is to take it to the Holy Spirit to receive His vision, to let my perception be corrected. It is a progressive process that becomes easier and more effective with every practice.

It is my willingness to practice that makes the healing of my mind possible. I am grateful for my little willingness and I am grateful for the mighty tools for healing brought to me in the Course. Today I will practice once again with gratitude and joy, reminding myself that my mind holds only what I think with God.

The ultimate proof of God’s existence will come through your own experience in meditation. Once you have found him in the Cathedral of silent meditation in the depths of your soul, you will find him everywhere.